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ARTMEN F COMMERCE 

BUREAU FISHERIES 


Economic Circular No. 30 


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Issued August 28, 1917 


POSSIBILITIES OF FOOD FROM FISH. 0 


The fisheries of the United States produce annually about 1,500,- 
000,000 pounds of food fish, including shellfish, in a fresh condition. 
Alaska has a yearly output of about 250,000,000 pounds of fish canned, 
salted, and otherwise preserved. Reducing the latter to the fresh- 
weight basis, the total yield of the American fisheries can be stated as 
reasonably close to 2,000,000,000 pounds each year. The total out¬ 
put of the hatcheries of the United States Bureau of Fisheries in eggs, 
fry, and other small fish is about four and a half billions annually. 

Some of the fishes have been sought too eagerly and in consequence 
are declining in numbers; others have held their own; while in some 
cases there are possibilities of an increased production without 
impairing the fishery. In the last class belong the carp, kingfish, 
grouper, silver hake or whiting, Pacific shad, Pacific herring, and 
croakers. 

The most promising outlook for an increase in the food supply by 
the fisheries is in fishes hitherto unused and those that have just been 
brought to public attention. Some of these are sharks, bowfin, toad- 
fish, squids, goosefish, skates, grayfrh, sablefish, burbot, lamprey 
eels, and menhaden. 

It should be borne in mind, however, that fishes are wild animals 
and part of a vast but balanced system of animals that are preyed 
upon, those that prey upon them, and those that convert useless plant 
life into available meat, and that it would be shortsighted to take all 
fish without due regard to the part each plays in the economy of 
nature. It is therefore necessary that precautions be taken against 
working permanent injury to the fishery resources. Care should be 
exercised that laws for the protection of the fisheries should not be 
unduly relaxed. The conservation of the supply for the future is no 
less important than its increase in the present. 

A great deal of waste results from improper or careless methods of 
catching, cleaning, and salting fish which are employed at present by 
too large a number of fishermen. Many whole fishes and great 
quantities of the edible portion of fish are lost to the food supply of 
the country through wasteful practices in catching and curing. The 
Bureau of Fisheries has begun an energetic campaign among catchers 
and packers of food fishes to induce them to avoid waste ancl conserve 
all fish caught. 

Moreover there are certain wastes in the fish trades that can be 
turned profitably into the food markets if prejudice can be overcome. 
While the roes of many kinds of fish are utilized the milts have been 
invariably thrown away or disposed of to the fertilizer factories. The 
milts are"a wholesome and nutritious food; and with a little recom¬ 
mendation should find willing buyers. Much more extensive econo¬ 
mics can be practiced with the roes also. 


a By H. F. Taylor, scientific assistant, Bureau of Fisheries. 


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In introducing to the public nc ashes, such as those mentioned 
above, not the least obstacle is the J rejudice of people against a sug¬ 
gestive name, or an unattractively appearing fish. As a matter of 
fact, almost every fish taken from pure water is fit to eat, in the sense 
that it furnishes food and is not injurious to health. Some have a 
coarse or tough texture, or are without distinctive taste, but such 
defects can usually be remedied by proper cooking. Sharks, for 
instance, furnish an abundance of meat, wholesome and of good flavor. 
The food of the shark is less questionable than that of pigs and 
chickens. There is nothing against it except the fact that it is a 
shark. Smoked shark recently received and examined by this Bureau 
was of both attractive appearance and agreeable taste. A fish like 
the common toadfish or the goosefish, of unattractive appearance, is 
discriminated against, while the appearance of the flounder is con¬ 
sidered no obstacle to the extensive utilization of its excellent flesh. 
The difference is, of course, in custom. This psychological factor 
must be recognized and overcome by emphasizing the unwisdom and 
waste and ill-found dislike. People must he pursuaded to eat a fish 
if it is wholesome, and to disregard unpleasant names. 

The people of the United States, especially in the inland States, do 
not eat much fish. In the case of fresh fish, there is possibly a good 
reason. Yet, locally caught, and even locally propagated, fishes from 
lakes, streams, and millponds may add considerably to the supply 
of fresh fish at a low price. Canned and pickled fish are always 
available, are wholesome and of a comparatively low price. Salt 
fish are particularly recommended for people in the inland States. 
The scarcity of tin plate prevents unlimited increase in the output of 
the canneries, and this fact, together with the probable necessity of 
shipping much of the canned output to Europe, makes it advisable 
for inland people to use salt fish. This Bureau is assembling a 
number of recipes for preparing salt fish for the table, thereby helping 
to make available a palatable and wholesopie food. 

In addition to the natural sources of fish—the ocean, lakes, and 
streams—there are great possibilities for pond culture of fish in the 
United States. Ponds already in existence and ponds made for the 
purpose can be stocked with rapid-growing fish that can he managed 
with little trouble. Such ponds would add a great amount of meat 
to the food supply. 

The one-day-a-week nature of the fish business is one of the most 
serious deterrents to an increased consumption of fish. The fisher¬ 
man’s business is largely governed by wind and tide—conditions 
beyond his control. He must catch fish whenever he can, but hold 
them against the risk of spoiling and by expensive icing until the one- 
fish day of the week. The consumer must buy when everybody else 
is buying and the dealer must obtain from one day’s sales a profit to 
cover six days’ expenses. Cheaper and better fish will he obtainable 
if the dealer and consumer will cooperate to make every day a fish 
day. 

Fish are often looked upon as not being meat. There is no charac¬ 
teristic difference between fish flesh and the flesh of any other animal. 
The bulk of it is protein and water. Pound for pound there is 
nearly, if not quite, as much protein in fish meat as in beefsteak. 
Fish could be substituted for all other kinds of meat every day in 
he year without ill effects. Oily fish, like shad, herring, and eels, 

^ especially nutritious, affording a large quantity of fat for fuel 

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OCT 6 1917 



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as well as the tissue-building proteins. Fish roe generally contains 
more protein than beef, and some fat in addition. Fish meat is 
quite as easily digested (i. e., as large a proportion in as short a 
time) as other forms of meat. It has been recommended as bein^ 
a highly suitable form of protein for sedentary workers. It will 
be observed in the figures given below that when fish compare 
unfavorably with other meats the difference is chiefly in fat. Fat 
has twice the fuel value of protein, and shows up heavily in the 
fuel-value column, but protein is the only tissue-building material. 
It has no substitute and is the high-priced element of food, while 
fats may be replaced by other diets, such as vegetables, with their 
sugars and starches. Fuel energy is the only element in food values 
that can be expressed in figures, but it would be a serious mistake to 
make this the sole standard of comparison without considering the 
quite essential tissue-building function of proteins, the value of 
which can not at present be expressed in figures. 

The following tabulated analyses show comparisons of fish with 
other common meats: 


Analysis and Food Value of Fish and Other Meats, Edible Part, Dressed. 


Kind. 

Water. 

Dry flesh. 

Protein. 

Fat. 

Ash. 

Total nu¬ 
trients. 

Fuel 

value per 
pound. 

Sirloin steak. 

Per cent. 
60.00 

Per cent. 
40.00 

Per cent. 
20.00 

Per cent. 
19.00 

Per cent. 
1.00 

Per cent. 
39.00 

Calorics. 

1,175 

Salmon, fresh. 

63.60 

36.40 

21.60 

13.40 

1.40 

35.00 

'965 

Beef, round. 

66.70 

33.30 

23.00 

9.00 

1.30 

32.00 

805 

Shad. 

70.62 

29.28 

18.55 

9.48 

1.25 

28.03 

745 

Mackerel. 

64.01 

28.38 

18.77 

8.21 

1.40 

26.98 

695 

Eel. 

64.51 

35.49 

15.82 

18.74 

.93 

34.56 

1,085 

795 

Butterfish. 

69.84 

30.16 

17.99 

11.03 

1.14 

29.02 

Striped bass. 

77.47 

22.53 

18.54 

2.83 

1.16 

21.37 

460 

Flounder. 

84.21 

15.79 

13.82 

.69 

1.28 

14.51 

285 

Halibut. 

75.42 

24.58 

18.35 

5.18 

1.05 

23.53 

560 

Mutton, leg. 

61.80 

38.20 

18- 30 

19.00 

.90 

37.30 

1,140 

Chicken.. 

71.30 

28. 70 

24.30 

2.60 

1.40 

26.90 

'540 

Herring roe. 

76.88 

23.12 

17.53 

2.41 

2.18 

19.94 

425 

Shad roe. 

71.29 

28.71 

23.40 

3.78 

1.53 

27.18 

533 

Carp. 

78.43 

21.57 

19.07 

1.26 

1.24 

20.33 

405 




Analysis of Fish and Other Meats, Undressed, as Purchased. 


Kind. 

Edible 

part. 

Water. 

Dry 

flesh. 

Protein. 

Fat. 

Ash. 

Total 

nu¬ 

trients. 

Fuel 

value per 
pound. 


Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Per cent. 

Calories. 

Beef, round. 

90.00 

60.00 

30.00 

20.62 

8.11 

1.20 

28.80 

72b 

Beef, sirloin. 

75.00 

45.00 

30.00 

15.00 

14.25 

.75 

29.25 

885 

Mutton, leg. 

81.60 

50.82 

31.42 

15.07 

15.50 

.78 

30. 50 

938 

Salmon. 

64. 70 

40.60 

24.10 

14.30 

8. 80 

1. 00 

23.10 

635 

Eel. 

64. 00 

41.60 

22.70 

10.14 

12.00 

.55 

22.14 

684 

Mackerel. 

55. 40 

40.40 

15.00 

10.00 

4. 30 

.70 

14.30 

365 

Carp. 

50. 00 

39. 22 

10. 78 

9.53 

.63 

.62 

10.16 

202 

Halibut. 

82.30 

61.90 

20.40 

15.10 

4. 40 

.90 

19. 50 

465 

Chicken. 

58. 40 

41.60 

17. 20 

14.20 

1.20 

.80 

15. 40 

315 


The analyses given are only representative. The food value of 
fish is variable from month to month, the variations being largely 
due to fluctuations in content of fat, especially in the fat species, 
like eels, shad, and salmon. 

Fish meat compares favorably with other meats in digestibility. 
Experiments recently carried out in the States Relations Service, 


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Department of Agriculture, 0 show that, when eaten as a part of 
a mixed ration, the four fishes, mackerel, butterfish, grayfish (canned), j 
and salmon (canned) are digested with equal completeness. These 
fishes were the subject of 18 experiments on digestibility in 6 men; 
92.5 per cent of the protein and 92.6 per cent of the fat was digested. 
From numerous other investigators we have ample evidence that 
fish meat is as easily digested as are, other meats, as wholesome, 
and quite as able to supply the flesh-building proteins of the body. 

In substituting fish for other kinds of meat, attention should, of 
course, be paid to proper methods of cooking to make the fish as [ 
agreeable as possible. Some fish owe their present disrepute largely 
to the fact that they were seldom or never properly cooked—as, 
for example, the carp, which is both abundant and, when properly 
cooked, palatable. Information of the cooking of some of these 
fishes has been published by the Bureau of Fisheries; other informa¬ 
tion on this subject may be obtained from the Bureau of Home 
Economics, Department of Agriculture, and from the domestic 
science departments of State universities and agricultural colleges. 

There are other sound reasons for looking to the fisheries for 
increased production of nitrogenous food in this time of national 
emergency. Nearly all land animals which furnish meat depend 
upon agricultural products for their food. A great part of the 
vegetation now devoured by cattle might be used for human con¬ 
sumption; cattle and poultry, for the most part, merely convert one 
available form of food into another. On the other hand, fishes 
consume directly or indirectly animal and vegetable forms which 
in their natural state are unavailable and useless as food for man, 
such as the aquatic plants which derive their nutrients and mineral 
fertilizers from the waters. The materials thus assembled are con¬ 
verted directly or indirectly by the fishes into food available for 
mankind. It is therefore obvious that the adoption of a fish diet by 
a larger number of people will shift a part of the burden from lancl 
vegetation to aquatic vegetation. And this is the more to be desired 
since land animals have to consume proportionately a greater amount 
of food than fishes. Land animals, which are warm blooded, expend 
a large part of their nutrition in maintaining a constant temperature 
above that of their surroundings, with consequent radiation of large 
quantities of heat, whereas fishes, which are cold-blooded and actually 
receive heat from their surroundings, use all their food in the necessary 
activities and body growth. 

One should not expect to buy at a low price a fish that is caught 
only at distant places. The burbot should not be looked for in the 
markets in Alabama, nor the tilefish on the Pacific coast. The 
sablefish, cheap on the Pacific, may be expensive in the Atlantic 
States. Canned, salted, and dried fish, however, may be had any¬ 
where at nearly uniform prices. With alertness and some study of 
the market, one should be able to provide oneself with enough*fish 
to supply all demand for meats and at prices far from prohibitive. 

In summary, the fisheries of the United States offer large possi¬ 
bilities for increased food production if people can be induced to eat 
more fish, especially the kinds that have hitherto not been on the 
market. 


a By Dr. A. D. Holmes, from a forthcoming paper from the Bureau of Home Economics, Department 
of Agriculture. 


WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1917 






























































































